Talk description:

Before 18F was dismantled by DOGE, we were responsible for some of the U.S. federal government’s most human-centered products. In this talk, principal product designer Aviva Oskow (she/they) will give attendees a behind the scenes look at the development and launch of civilrights.justice.gov, a product that transformed the way the Department of Justice collects, routes, tracks, and responds to civil rights complaints. As a core member of the product team, Aviva was responsible for the front-facing visual and interaction design of the portal, and helped spearhead empathy-centered practices that defined the project. Taking into account sensitive subject matter and often traumatizing experiences of users, the team focused on designing a service that could communicate in both humane and legally accurate ways, and learned lessons that can be applied far beyond this case study alone.

About the event:

On April 15, FWD50 tackles public sector product delivery—and what might have been at 18FOn April 15, FWD50 tackles public sector product delivery—and what might have been at 18F.

To its users, government is a product. On April 15, you’ll learn how to think like a product manager, starting with a clear understanding of what that user is trying to achieve—and then planning out the roadmap to get there.

Our first quarterly event brings in experts who’ve delivered products at the national level to talk about what they did, the challenges they faced, and the results of their work. All of this year’s online events will run right here on Access.

But that’s not all we’re covering.

Over the years, we’ve welcomed many amazing people from the USDS and 18F—a pioneering digital service lab—to our stage. Late at night on Friday, February 28, 18F was summarily dismantled.

This is the same group that built civilrights.justice.gov, ada.gov, findtreatment.gov, USDA WIC toolkit, foia.gov, wrote a guide to de-risking government technology projects, and defined Federal website standards. It took .gov domain registration from 10 days to 15 minutes, created an FBI Crime Data Explorer, and more.

After years of modernizing government and working with departments to get the most from vendors, 18F’s projects were suddenly halted. The National Weather Service, a Federal Voting Assistance Program to allow Americans overseas to vote, and the widely praised IRS Direct File service were among the projects that came to a standstill.

There’s lots to learn from 18F alumni about what it takes to modernize the public sector. Three of its past directors are on our advisory board.

Given the importance of this topic, we’ve decided to make the April 15 event free to anyone with an approved account on Access.

Empowering Women In Music, Entertainment, & Technology

Aviva La Viv and Lyd Marie, co-founders of Tone Shift Collective, speak about how they are revaluing recorded music through community building with their organization.

The Department of Justice contracted Nava Public Benefit Corporation to continue the work started by 18F to help people, businesses, and public offices know their rights and responsibilities under the ADA. Beta.ada.gov exercises a vital design practice: how do we make ADA rights and regulations easy to find, understand, and share in order to empower diverse groups of Americans? Shaped by the Department’s vision for an accessible website, learn about how we’re translating goals into action, leveraging modern web design through the USWDS, crafting accessible language guidelines from plainlanguage.gov, and practicing inclusive user research.

Speakers:

Chinelo Ikejimba, Designer/Researcher, Nava PBC

Aviva Oskow, Lead Product Designer, 18F

Veronica N. Williamson, Product Owner, Disability Rights Section, U.S. Department of Justice

Cindy Nelson, Web Content Manager, U.S. Department of Justice

DotGov Design Conference returns May 18, 2021 to highlight amazing projects and inspiring people working in the government space, and to educate people aspiring to make the world a better place through government projects.

Guest lecture on human-centered civic design and a career in design for social good at Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Design: Communications Design program (Aviva’s alma mater)

Guest lecture on human-centered civic design and a career in design for social good at Shillington Design School.

OBT’s Train and Earn is a program for 17-24 year olds who are out of school and out of work, providing education, job training, and support moving to their next steps. Most Train and Earn participants are either working on their high school equivalency diploma or recent high school graduates who want support getting a job or continuing their education. OBT serves primarily low-income Brooklyn residents, specifically focusing on people of color, immigrants, and some English as a new language students. The career day potluck is a chance for the participants to speak to people in a variety of careers.

Presenting on design in the federal government and 18F for The Lab at OPM’s Design School, a week-long immersive learning experience for and led by fellow government employees. The course explores the methods and mindsets of human-centered design and design thinking for public service.

The Tech Scholars program brings together a cohort of 20 high school girls to learn about women's history and coding in the Tech Commons at the New York Historical Society. Through researching women in American history and building websites using HTML and CSS to share their work, they gain an important lens on history and the field of technology. This panel features three women with successful careers in the tech field to speak on their experience and offer advice to the young women.

An evening of storytelling and collaboration for the NYC civic design and tech community

Hosted by 18F and Civic Hall, and featuring additional speakers from the Lab @OPM, NYC Civic Service Design Studio, Beta NYC, and Civic Actions.

Organized and hosted by Aviva Oskow and Amy Ashida of 18F

“Remote First: lessons from running distributed, cross-disciplinary—and still user centered teams” - Panel with 18F colleagues and partners from the Department of Justice and Forest Service

Breakout session: “Plain language and simple design: How civic designers are building a better digital government for the people”

Guest lecture series: “Growing a career in human centered design”

“User Centered Design in the Government”

Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Communications Design alumni chat “Design for Social Good”